“Dusty. Here, boy.” From where she sat on her mother’s bench, Paige saw Tony’s car pull into the driveway—ten minutes early. “Dusty, come on.” Where was that dog?
Tony started across the lawn, waving a greeting as he did. “Hello.”
Paige jumped to her feet and moved away from the sitting area. This was her mother’s special place; it felt sacred almost. Not a place for outsiders. She walked forward and peered between the trees. “Dusty.”
“The old boy’s out carousing, huh? I knew he still had some spunk left in him.” Tony leaned forward and squinted into the thicket. “Young ma-an. Young man.”
“You always call him that, but you know, he’s actually a senior citizen.”
“Youth is all about frame of mind, and I’m telling you, Dusty’s a young buck if ever there was one.”
Dusty loped out from the trees, his tongue hanging out of his mouth, his eyes bright. He hobbled directly up to Tony, who bent down to pet him. “Listen here, young man, you come from much too nice a family to be out carousing at all hours, worrying us like this. From now on, I expect you to come the first time you’re called. You understand?”
Dusty lay down during the middle of the admonishment, his tail thumping against the clover. Tony stood up. “There, I think that’s all settled. Let me know if I need to have another talk with him.”
Paige felt the sudden urge to throw her arms around Tony’s neck and hug him in sheer delight. How long had it been since she’d been with someone who made her feel so good?
But . . . he was Clarissa’s uncle. As much as Paige was growing to like him, as much as she believed the feeling was mutual, she couldn’t help but wonder what he knew about Clarissa’s apparent conniving. The answer to the question sobered her enough to stop her from doing anything foolish.
He wore a black polo shirt that brought out the brown in his eyes—and provided a sharp contrast to the yellow Labrador fur that now clung to it.
“Oops. We better get you inside and use the lint roller on you. That dog sheds enough fur in a day to knit sweaters for a dozen Eskimos, I swear it.”
“Now there’s an idea for you: Labrador sweaters. Sounds like it would be right up there with cashmere if you ask me.”
“I’m sure.” When Paige opened the back door, dog and man followed her inside. She brought the lint roller out of the kitchen drawer and handed it to him. “Mom found Dusty at the animal shelter. He had been abused and abandoned, and when she first brought him home, he was scared to death of people—men in particular. My mom took it upon herself to ‘love the fear right out of him.’ She kept him with her constantly. If she was working in her flower bed, that’s where he was, if she was cooking dinner, he was in the kitchen. Before long, he didn’t want to go outside at all unless someone was with him. So, even before the accident, he was more or less a house dog. Dad says he’s a poodle in a Labrador’s body.”
Tony leaned down and scratched Dusty’s ears. “Nonsense. You just have to stay inside and protect the women and children. It’s purely sacrificial on your part, right, buddy?”
Dusty rolled over to get a belly rub and Paige laughed. “Well, that does sound more noble. I’ll have to give Mom that piece of ammunition the next time Dad teases her about it.” Dusty sneezed and rolled back over, apparently satisfied. “You better watch out or you’ll have to use the roller again.”
Tony stood up and looked down at his shirt. “All clear.” He handed the roller to Paige and went to the sink to wash his hands. “I took the liberty of making a reservation at Frederick’s. Does that sound good to you?”
“Wouldn’t you rather eat somewhere closer? You drove forty-five minutes to get here, do you really want to go another half-hour south?” She pulled a hand towel from the drawer and held it out to him.
“You’re worth it.” His fingers brushed against hers as he took the towel.
Paige rubbed her thumb across her fingers, remembering the feel of his touch. She needed to refocus and fast. A stray cup in the sink provided just the distraction. She picked it up, rinsed it carefully, then opened the dishwasher. The top shelf needed a little rearranging. This morning’s cereal bowl went to the bottom, the juice glass went to the right, the saucepan’s handle got adjusted.
“Is this for your mom’s treatment?” He was touching the countdown poster with the index finger of his right hand. Paige hadn’t overwhelmed him with the news of her mother’s health, but it had come up a few times.
“She has to remain in the Houston area for one hundred days after the transplant, in case of emergency. That’s how many days are left until she can come back here.”
He whistled low. “Have you heard from her lately?”
Paige nodded. “They check in every couple days. The treatment . . . she’s only the ninth person they’ve tried it on. Five have had fantastic results so far. The other three, not so great. So . . . we’ll see.”
“I can’t wait to meet her.” I can’t wait to meet her. There was a hint of a promise in those words. Wasn’t there? The potential answers both thrilled and terrified. It was almost too much right now.
“Irene’s.”
“Irene’s?”
“For dinner. I say I’m worth Irene’s. You won’t have to drive so much, and they have the best southern cooking for miles around.”
“Southern cooking?” He offered his elbow. “Sounds great to me.”
She put her hand in the crook of his arm, feeling the warmth of his skin. He put his free hand atop hers. “Off we go, then.”
While they drove through town, Paige tried to look at this place through Tony’s eyes. Compared to the sleek high-rise buildings of downtown Nashville, the old brick storefronts must look bland, boring even. Nothing glamorous to keep his interest here. Of course there wasn’t. The comment about meeting her mother had just been polite conversation. Paige could do that, too. “So, how is the job coming along at Shoal Creek?”
“It should wrap up in the next month or so.”
“What’s the next project on the agenda?”
“Most of the guys from this job will move over to work on the Lawrenceburg square. We’re refurbishing the whole thing. Since it’s so close to Shoal Creek, most of them will stay in their same apartments, they’ll just commute a little. That always makes it nice, when everybody doesn’t have to pack up and move again.”
Paige nodded. “I’m sure.”
When they walked inside Irene’s, Paige watched for Tony’s reaction as he surveyed the room. The noisy atmosphere, scarred Formica tables, and red vinyl seats were a far cry from Frederick’s. He looked toward her, a twinkle in his eyes. “Now this is what I call ambiance.”
“Listen, city boy, if you’re going to hang out with me, you’ve got to learn to do things the small-town way.”
They took a seat in a window booth. “I’m thinking that something’s not exactly fair here, country girl. I think it’s time for you to come to Nashville and walk my turf for a day.”
“I don’t know.”
“Come on, it’s only fair. How about tomorrow?”
“The church ladies would have a fit if I didn’t show up for services. They would assume that either something was wrong with Mom or I had fallen into sin. When they found out I was in Nashville visiting a man—well, let’s just say, things could get ugly.” Paige was laughing as she said it, but there was more than a little truth to her words.
Tony shook his head. “Small towns—oy! Okay, next weekend. You finally have a Saturday off, right? I’ll come pick you up.”
“I can’t ask you to do that.”
“You didn’t ask me, I offered.”
“I can drive. It sounds fun.” And it did.
When they got back to Paige’s house, Tony walked her to the door. She turned to him. “I had a really nice time.”
“So did I.” He rubbed his chin and grinned. “Eating hush puppies. In a place that was noisier than a Titans’ game.” Oh, the charm of that smile, it was a magnet whose pull grew stronger with each passing second. “You’re the best thing that’s happened to me in a long time.”
“I can say the same about you.” The words barely came out, but she knew before she said them they were true.
He stepped closer and lifted her chin with his fingers until she looked into his eyes, their faces inches apart. “I’ll see you next week. On my turf this time.” He leaned forward and kissed her, his arms wrapping around her.
She leaned closer, put her arms around his neck, and felt herself falling into something she knew she could no longer escape.